A recent NBC article was nothing less than a hit piece against pro-life pregnancy resource centers (PRCs), while masquerading as legitimate journalism.
In the article, reporter Abigail Brooks was able to obtain documents from Sage Women’s Center in Twin Falls, Idaho. The forms — allegedly client intake questionnaires — were sent to NBC by the Campaign for Accountability, which, though claiming to be non-partisan, is a left-leaning watchdog organization.
“Sage’s client intake form provides a rare peek behind the curtain into the concerning ways unregulated pregnancy clinics question clients and should be a major red flag for anyone considering walking into one of these centers,” Executive Director Michelle Kuppersmith said in a statement to NBC News. “We hope Sage’s practices are investigated to determine whether they violate Idaho law.”
The alleged intake forms ask for information on prior pregnancies, religious beliefs, the woman’s intentions for the pregnancy, and if the father is involved. One question NBC portrayed as suspicious was, “Who would support your decision if you decide to abort your pregnancy?” as well as information about the woman’s emotional status at the appointment.
While NBC tried to frame these questionnaires, as well as the PRC’s overall existence and affiliations, as nefarious, they serve a purpose. Finding out a woman’s financial situation, as well as how the people close to her are reacting to her pregnancy, is a way to determine if she might be at risk for coercion. This is not a small risk; nearly three-quarters of post-abortive women have said they experienced pressure to undergo the procedure. Women who are being coerced into abortion have rights, and pregnancy centers can inform them of these rights along with alternatives to abortion.
NBC then featured an interview with a woman named Willow who got pregnant unexpectedly, and wanted an abortion. In what is portrayed as a horrifying thing to do, Willow went to Sage Women’s Center, and was offered alternatives and resources at no cost:
One of the first things they had asked me is, what do you plan to do from here? And I told them that I plan to terminate this pregnancy.
They just told me that they advised me against this decision and showed me videos on abortion and how dangerous it was. They tried to scare me away from my decision.
They pressured me into keeping it by offering their services and free supplies for raising a child.
While pregnancy resource centers give women information on the risks of the abortion pill and other types of abortion, the abortion industry is busy telling women it’s “safer than Tylenol” or “Viagra,” or “penicillin,” while on the other hand, they encourage women not to tell healthcare workers they have taken abortion drugs when the women present to ERs experiencing complications. Where is the abortion businesses in such a scenario? Often, that business has offloaded its responsibility to care for the woman, placing it on the emergency room staff instead. The business’s job was simply to hand the woman a pill and then leave her to handle the rest on her own.
But pregnancy resource centers exist to offer women resources they might not otherwise have access to; if a lack of resources is what is leading a woman to consider abortion, then offering those resources is presenting a solution to that particular issue, not “pressuring” a woman “into keeping… a child.” Any woman is free to leave a pregnancy center, and free to reject the services offered there. And many times, they do, with some going on to choose abortion. Others, however, are immensely grateful to have been offered a lifeline — a real support system — and an alternative to ending their children’s lives. Most women who are clients of PRCs don’t just visit once or twice; they visit frequently, building relationships and friendships with the staff and volunteers there, who not only know their names, but the names of their children as well.
Another person interviewed by NBC was Susannah Baruch, executive director of the Petrie-Flom Center for Health Law Policy, Biotechnology and Bioethics at Harvard Law School. Because Sage Women’s Center is affiliated with Heartbeat International, Baruch argued that private patient information is being shared, even though Sage Women’s Center itself specifically said this is not true. “Many of the crisis pregnancy centers are part of networks, and they’re sharing the information up to the networks, which are there to try to reduce the number of people accessing abortion,” Baruch claimed, regardless. “We don’t know exactly what they would do with the information.”
Ultimately, NBC seems determined to slam PRCs for not being legitimate health care facilities, when the truth is that many PRCs are not merely health care facilities. They are designed to help women navigate the resources available to them in their communities, to provide support during an unplanned pregnancy, and give supplies and aid to families that need it.
Ultimately, the problem abortion advocates have with PRCs is very simple: PRCs don’t offer or refer women for abortions. And for that, PRCs will always be under attack, no matter how much tangible aid they provide to women and families.
